1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a hydrogen generating apparatus and a fuel cell generation system.
2. Description of the Related Art
A fuel cell is an apparatus that converts the chemical energies of fuel (hydrogen, LNG, LPG, etc.) and air directly into electricity and heat, by means of electrochemical reactions. In contrast to conventional power generation technologies, which employ the processes of burning fuel, generating vapor, driving turbines, and driving power generators, the utilization of fuel cells does not entail combustion processes. As such, the fuel cell is a relatively new technology for generating power that offers high efficiency and few environmental problems.
Methods used in generating hydrogen for a fuel cell can mainly include a method of utilizing the oxidation of aluminum, a method of utilizing the hydrolysis of metal borohydrides, and a method of utilizing reactions on metal electrodes. Among these, the method of using metal electrodes efficiently regulates the rate of hydrogen generation. This is a method in which the electrons obtained when magnesium in the electrode is ionized to Mg2+ ions are moved through a wire and connected to another metal object, where hydrogen is generated by the dissociation of water. The amount of hydrogen generated can be regulated, as it is related to the distance between electrodes and the size of the electrodes.
However, since the chemical reactions, i.e. exothermic reactions, here produce a lot of heat as well as the generated hydrogen carry a lot of vapor, the efficiency of the use of the water and the amount of hydrogen generated can be dramatically decreased. For that reason, when storing the hydrogen in the hydrogen generating apparatus, the efficiency of storage can be dramatically decreased.